Big Four Firms Await Developments on Australian Minerals Resource Rent Tax

Nita Teoh, Big4.com

July 20, 2010

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Treasurer Wayne Swan treaded carefully to reach an amicable deal with the mining industry giants over the revised Minerals Resource Rent Tax (MRRT).

Since the new tax was released on the 2nd July, the Opposition party has been hard at work to uncover the downsides of Labor’s new policy.

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We Talk with Grant Thornton on Accounting Talent Management

July 20, 2010

Company CFOs, as guardians of corporate coffers, have been under severe pressure in this economic crisis, equally to maintain profitability and efficiently manage their own financial organization. Revenue enhancement, cost control and risk management is still job number one. But not far from that is the acquisition, nurturing and retention of those who really make it happen – the accounting staff within their organizations.

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KPMG Extends Consulting Depth, Buys Grant Thornton Supply Chain Practice

John Fowler, Big4.com

July 19, 2010

We have not seen many acquisitions come through for KPMG US, but there has been growing rhetoric about the need for Big Four firms to get back into the consulting business.  See this article right from KPMG’s global site, which says….”For some time, the Big 4 accountants have been keen to make the point that they're more than just auditors. Less than ten years ago though, three of them exited the market for consultancy services. Fast forward several years and they're back en masse - and seemingly more assured than before.

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Deloitte’s iPad Sales Predictions Are Right On The Money

Rob Starr, Big4.com

July 16, 2010

A recent update to Deloitte’s Technology, Media & Telecommunications Predictions 2010 has some findings that would have been quite anticipated given the state of the economy, but that the demand for mobile searches was slower than expected was a little surprising.

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Ernst & Young UK Seeing A Fragile Recovery For The UK Economy

Rob Starr, Big4.com
July 14, 2010

The recovery from the worst worldwide recession in the last 6o years has left the domestic side of the UK’s economy more vulnerable than first expected, according to official statisticians and Ernst & Young UK. The general consensus is that the country entered recession in Q4-2008 and was out of it in Q4-2009. But it is the growth in the quarters following the end of the recession are that much more critical. 

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Capgemini And KPMG Shape The Thinking At 2010 World Congress On IT

Nita Teoh, Big4.com
July 14, 2010

Chief Information Officers (CIOs) are continually faced with the increasing pressure of delivering greater value from IT services for their companies on a daily basis. Much like Moore’s law, demands on performance keeps increasing while costs continually drop. 

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Ernst & Young Combines Far East and Oceania Into Asia-Pacific Region

John Fowler, Big4.com

July 13, 2010

Singaporean and Asian newspapers and websites are reporting that Ernst & Young will combine its Far East and Oceania areas into an integrated Asia-Pacific region.

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KPMG’s Infrastructure 100 – Most Exciting Global Projects – A Must Read

Nita Teoh, Big4.com

July 13, 2010

It’s not often that phrase “most exciting” and “accounting firms” are found together.

So, it was interesting to see a list of “the most exciting infrastructure projects from around the world, as selected by independent judging panels due to their scale, complexity, innovation and impact on society” in a recent KPMG report.

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Deloitte Realizes Synergies From BearingPoint Federal Practice. Thousands Hired

Charles Harper, Big4.com

July 12, 2010

More than a year ago, on March 25, 2009, we wrote about the imminent breakup of BearingPoint with business assets being sold to various Big Four firms and to BearingPoint Europe management (http://bigfouralumni.blogspot.com/2009/03/bearingpoint-breakup-imminent-business.html).

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PricewaterhouseCoopers India Relinquishes Control of BPO Unit to PwC US

John Fowler, Big4.com

July 9, 2010

Indian newspapers are just reporting that PricewaterhouseCoopers is setting up a service delivery centre in the western Indian metropolis Kolkata, a first of its kind entity for the global network and (interestingly) a joint venture between PwC in India, Australia, Canada, the U.K. and the US. The goal is to provide selected client service and financial and accounting back-office support to all global PwC network firms.

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Big Four Firms Benefit From Strong Growth Outlook In Asia Pacific

Nita Teoh, Big4.com

Jul y 9, 2010

The Asia Pacific Region has been a growth hot-spot for the Big Four firms, as strong increases in the emerging economies in this region has fueled demand for financial and professional services.

As our 2009 Big Four Firms Financial Performance Analysis (available at http://www.big4.com/?page=blog_item&url=the-2009-big-four-firms-performance-analysis-450 or download the entire pdf analysis at http://pdfcast.org/pdf/the-2009-big-four-firms-performance-analysis), shows Asia Pacific has been steadily gaining revenue share over the last six years. 

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PCAOB Inspection of Ernst and Young – But Which One is Lehman?!

John Fowler, Big4.com

July 8, 2010

PCAOB just released its 2010 annual inspection report on Ernst & Young using inspections from October 2008 to October 2009 at 30 of its approximately 80 U.S. practice offices of 58 audits performed by the Firm.

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Big Four Firm Await New Australian Climate Change Policy

Nita Teoh, Big4.com

July 8, 2010

We discussed in our earlier blog the impact of the Big Four firms on the change in the Australian Prime Minister from Kevin Rudd to Julia Gillard (http://www.big4.com/?page=blog_item&url=did-the-big-four-firms-help-topple-the-australian-prime-minister-577). 

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Is Social Media Creating Customer Service Anarchy? BearingPoint Thinks Yes.

Rob Starr, Big4.com
July 8, 2010

While most people are lauding the new move toward utilizing all the advantages that the Internet generation affords business, at least one consulting firm is saying the abundance of customer service contact points is confusing.

In other words, is too much social media just too much for business?

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Big Four Firms Opine On UK Emergency Budget

James Spencer, Big4.com
July 7, 2010

George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom had a tightrope to walk while presenting the recent UK Emergency budget. Should strict austerity measures be taken to control the burgeoning fiscal deficit or be avoided in order not to derail the nascent economic recovery?

A tough choice for the country and a rough position between a rock and a hard place.

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Will Deloitte Buy Booz or Kearney?

Susan Black, Big4.com

July 6, 2010

With the recent calling off of the Booz Kearney merger, and Deloitte USA open to acquisitions, would Deloitte pursue any of these consulting firms and attempt to combine with Deloitte Consulting?

Deloitte UK has been on an acquisition tear, and we've wondered why its been so quiet Stateside.

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Booz, Kearney Deal Off. Partners Vote With Pocketbooks

Booz, Kearney Deal Off. Partners Vote With Pocketbooks

Susan Black, Big4.com
July 6, 2010

In a terse statement this evening from Booz & Company, the firm is calling off any merger possibilities with A.T. Kearney, saying, "Booz & Company and A.T. Kearney confirm that they have ended discussions about a possible merger of their two partnerships. While the two firms greatly respect each other’s legacy and capabilities, they have determined that their future aspirations will be best realized as separate partnerships."

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PricewaterhouseCoopers Finds Advertising Returns to Growth For Next 5 Years

Rob Starr, Big4.com

July 6, 2010

One of the benchmarks that should tell us that business is slowly shaking off the recession is that eternal barometer of corporate health – advertising

And the news is not that bad, according to the recently released PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) 2010-2014 Global Entertainment and Media Outlook, which says no one should be expecting a full and robust recovery anytime soon – but only a slow uptrend.

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Ernst and Young Is First Big Four Firm To Globally Implement UK Governance Code

David Nelson, Big4.com

July 5, 2010

Ernst & Young just made an important announcement to totally strengthen its internal governance processes, becoming the first Big Four firm to formally do so. And it goes one step beyond what is required by Code. Recall that the firm was indicted quite hard in the recent Valukas report which examined E&Y’s role in the Lehman bankruptcy.

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KPMG India Decides Reliance Merger Swap Ratio, But Some Questions Linger

John Fowler, Big4.com
July 5, 2010

KPMG India was the independent third party valuation firm which has set an exchange ratio in the proposed merger $11 billion of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (Reliance ADAG)’ s group company Reliance Natural Resources Limited (RNRL) with another group company Reliance Power Limited (Reliance Power) in an all-stock deal.

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Deloitte: CFOs Optimistic on Revenue and Earnings, But Not On Job Growth

Lisa Chapman, Big4.com

July 3, 2010

Chief Financial Officers of large US companies are some of the smartest, strategic and pragmatic of senior executives.

With their deep knowledge of purse strings over billions of dollars, they know quite well how their companies are doing and their plans for the future.

Indeed a good bunch to listen to for an insightful idea of the future. Deloitte reached out to hundreds in May 2010 to get inputs on a whole host of questions. And the results show good optimism on the financials but dismal projections for job growth.

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Ernst and Young Paints Bright Future for Electric Cars. Can Tesla Benefit??

John Fowler, Big4.com

July 2, 2010

Ernst & Young’s Global Automotive Center finds that over 25% of 1,000 drivers surveyed across US, Europe, China and Japan would likely consider purchasing plug-in hybrid (PHEVs) or electric vehicle (EVs) as soon as they become available on the market, according to research by. Nearly 7% of respondents globally indicated they would definitely consider buying a PHEV or EV.

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Where There is Tax, There Will Be Tax Havens. Big Four Firms Hope So Too

James Spencer, Big4.com

July 1, 2010

As the old saying goes, there’s nothing certain in the world except death and taxes.

Taxes can be avoided (to some degree) by going to tax havens, jurisdictions that shelter corporate and individual profits from onerous taxation.

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Looking Out For Number One – Accenture Indicates A Paradigm Shift

Susan Black, Big4.com

July 1, 2010

A new book, Workforce of One: Revolutionizing Talent Management through Customization (Harvard Business Press, 2010) by two Accenture authors - David Smith, MD of the Accenture Talent & Organization Performance service line, and Susan M. Cantrell, fellow at the Accenture Institute for High Performance shows that employees are actively demanding “an individualized experience at work based on their own encounters with customization as consumers”

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